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“Farmers are still using pesticides as well, so we need to start offering incentives and subsidies to stop that.

“Otherwise, ideally, we could switch to organic farming - but that would mean a big increase in food costs.

“People wanting to help can plant fruit trees, shrubs and any type of plant that is bee-friendly.”

Oxford City Council was also present. Leader Bob Price and board member for parks, sports and events Mark Lygo both attended.

Mr Lygo said the council would be making commitments to a more coordinated strategy.

He said: “Budgets are tight but we can make a commitment to plant more wild flowers and to encourage more habitats.

“We need more coordination to align projects that are going on already and to work more with the volunteers out there.”

Eleanor Lischka, a Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs spokeswoman, was also in attendance and confirmed that a central government strategy report would be published by the end of February.

We can all do our bit to help bees by putting the right kind of plants in our gardens.

Bee-friendly spring garden plants include:

Wallflower

Holly

Primrose

Blackcurrant

Dandelion

Damson

Blueberry

Across the world, there are believed to be around 20,000 different species of bees.

They live in colonies and there are three types of bees in each colony.